1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and an apparatus for taking a slow motion picture, and a process and an apparatus for taking and playing a slow motion picture. More specifically, the present invention relates to a process and an apparatus for taking a slow motion picture concerning a phenomenon that occurs at a high speed at a high frame rate, and a process and an apparatus for taking and playing a slow motion picture of such a phenomenon at a high frame rate.
2. Description of Related Arts
Generally, in the case where a slow motion picture is taken and played in a smooth manner, the picture is taken and recorded with a larger number of fields per second than the filed number per second in a usual case, and the recorded data is played at the usual field number per second. For example, when a television picture according to the usual NTSC (National Television System Committee) where data is recorded at 60 fields per second is converted into doubled slow motion picture, the data may be taken at 120 fields per second and then the recorded data may be played at 60 fields per second.
However, if one takes and plays a slow motion picture of a special high frame rate (hereinafter, referred to as “rate-raised slow motion picture”) in order to analyze the movement of an athlete, a natural phenomenon such as water current, an explosive phenomenon or a destruction phenomenon, he or she will have a difficulty in doing so with a conventional process or apparatus.
Specifically, when a rate-raised slow motion picture is to be taken in the conventional manner, a camera and recording device (recorder) having an imaging element operable at an enough speed for the raised rate are required as a rule. Consequently, special devices different from the conventional standard are required and a technical problem will occur if the recording frame rate becomes higher than a certain frame rate.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a process and an apparatus for taking a slow motion picture with a plurality of cameras which are not necessarily of a raised operation speed type, and a process and an apparatus for taking a slow motion picture with a plurality of cameras which are not necessarily of a raised operation speed type and play the slow motion picture.